Luke’s father doesn’t raise any cows, pigs or horses on his farm. There is wheat, beans, pears and tomatoes around his house.

Luke doesn’t mind (介意) that there are no ________. In fact, he likes living on a fruit-and-vegetable farm much better. He feels it’s amazing that his dad is able to make something in the place where there was ________.

“I’m planting ________ today, son,” Luke’s father said. “They grow best in hot summer heat, ________ I need to plant them early in spring. That way there will be tall, healthy tomato vines (藤) when ________ arrives.”

“How do you ________ they grow tall and healthy?” Luke asked.

“The vines grow strong when you give them care and attention (注意) and have a little bit of hope,” his father laughed.

“Can I help?” Luke begged.

“Of course!” said his father.

So when Luke is ________, he helps his father and Luke learns that a tomato plant does need much ________. He spent one whole day in the early June sun, hitting wooden sticks (木棍) into the ground by young tomato plants. After the tomato vines grow a little taller, Luke ties (绑) the tomato vines to the ________ so that they will not fall over.

“The tomatoes ________ need a lot of attention!” Luke said one late afternoon.

“Most ________ things do need a lot of attention, Luke,” replied his father with a smile.

“What do you mean?” asked Luke.

“Well,” his father said. “We should pay close attention to things that make our lives better.”

“That is ________ you pay attention to Mom?” asked Luke.

“Yes,” replied his father, “I pay close attention to you and Mom because you both make my ________better.”

Later, Luke’s work went ________ a lot quicker that day. Luke thinks taking care of the tomato plants is just like taking care of his mom and dad. With a bit of ________ magic (魔法) and a lot of attention, Luke is sure these will be the most beautiful tomatoes he has ever seen when August arrives.

How can you combine (结合) games with English learning? The answer is Wordle! Wordle players must correctly (正确地) guess a five-letter word with just six tries. You will lose (输掉) the game if you can’t guess the right word after six tries.

Invented by Josh Wardle, the game has been popular with millions of players all over the world. Every midnight, Wordle refreshes (更新) its word of the day. For example, the answer for April 10 is BLACK.

As you guess, the game gives you hints (提示). For example, if a letter is correct and in the right place, it turns green. If the letter is not in the word, it turns gray. If the letter is part of the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. These hints make the game into a puzzle (谜).

To win this game, you need to know a lot about English. Every English word has at least one vowel (元音), so finding vowels is a useful way. For example, in the word “think”, there is only one syllable (音节) and there is one vowel /i/.

A few days ago, I played this game and found it very interesting. First, I guessed the word “table”. Only “a” was green. Then, I guessed “maker” and the “r” turned yellow. In the end, I guessed “carry” and I was correct!

Wordle is a wonderful game to have fun. It’s also helpful to your English learning. Why not have a try in your free time?

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A company made a powerful robot (机器人) that can write stories. Type in “A cat wants to go to space” and ask the robot to write a bedtime story. Just one second later, you will get the story of a cat called Max. Max goes through many difficulties to sing among the stars.

This robot writer is real. It’s called ChatGPT. US company OpenAI made it. It can talk with people, write songs, poems and even jokes. It’s one of the most powerful AI writers.

People around the world have tried ChatGPT. Some used it to write history articles, some asked it to take notes or give advice on how to talk with people at a party, reported The Atlantic.

ChatGPT can write things really fast. We may spend hours researching, understanding and writing an article on the theory of evolution (进化论). But ChatGPT can write a good one in seconds. Another good thing about it is that if you ask harmful questions, such as how to make weapons (武器), it will not give you an answer.

ChatGPT comes along at a time when AI can do many creative tasks. It is difficult to tell the things they create (创造) from those made by humans. This brings many problems, such as the definition (定义) of art. The robot uses words from the Internet, including the Internet’s biases (偏见) about some groups. These are all the things that humans need to think about. However, AI can work with us and help us with big problems.

Chinese zodiac Rabbits (生肖兔) have taken over streets all around the world! On January 21, a colorful rabbit-shaped lantern came out in London, UK. On the same day, ice rabbit sculptures stood on a street in Helsinki, Finland. In Malacca, Malaysia, a 5.3-meter-tall rabbit sculpture surprised many people.

As a cultural image (文化意象), the zodiac rabbit has been in different forms of art all over the world, such as stamps, colorful lights and exhibitions.

The worldwide popularity (受欢迎) of the Chinese zodiac rabbit may have something to do with Easter (复活节) in Western culture, according to Tang Zhihong, head of an art group in the UK. “For people in the West, rabbits mean new life because they can give birth to many young ones. So the image of a rabbit is easily accepted (接受),” said Tang to Xinhua.

Through the “zodiac rabbit”, people from other countries can get a closer look into Chinese culture.

On January 21, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the US held a show called Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit. It showed 16 Chinese artworks on rabbits. It showed people that rabbits have been a popular artistic theme (艺术主题) in China for a long time. People could also learn about the stories of the rabbit and the moon in China.

Images of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals are fun for everyone. They can help with communication (交流) between different cultures, Chinese Canadian artist Zhang Shufeng told People’s Daily.

Many of you might love cute animals. But do you know how to look after them? Wonderful Friends might be able to tell you. It is a TV show on Hunan TV.     41    

“Don’t cry, my dear friends with two feet. I will protect you just as the way you protect me,” the show’s theme song says. On the show, six popular stars learn to become animal keepers at a zoo in Guangzhou.     42    

Many people like the show because it has a lot of moving (感人的) moments. For example, to teach a chimpanzee (黑猩猩) named Coco how to climb a tree, Li Yuchun climbs first.     43     Although Coco fails a few times, she learns how to climb in the end. When she gets to the top, she smiles at Li.

    44     They say it is dangerous for people to be so close to some animals because people and animals can give diseases (疾病) to each other.

But the show tells us one thing. What’s that?     45     As British animal expert (专家) Jane Goodall said, “Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved.”

What will our world be like in 2050? Maybe no one knows because we never know what will happen in the future. But it’s very interesting to make some predictions (预测). Here are some exciting ones.

Languages

English should still be the most popular language, but Chinese should be the second. Now, many foreign people are studying Chinese as their second language.

Water

Water will become as expensive as oil (石油) because many rivers will disappear (消失). We will have to save water and pay more for clean water.

Education and Science

Students won’t go to school. They will stay at home and study online. Students from all over the world may study together on the Internet. We may eat more genetically modified (转基因的) food. And more robots will be around us. Lots of dangerous work will be done by them.

Living

People will live and work under the sea. Maybe there will be big towns, factories and farms under the sea, too. Everyone will carry a pocket computer. The computer will give people all the answers to their questions. Everyone will have telephones in the pockets, too, and they can talk to their friends all over the world.

81. 假设你是Thomas，你的英国笔友Anthony计划来南通玩，他给你发了封电子邮件，想详细了解你的家乡南通。请认真阅读他的邮件，并根据邮件内容回信。

I’m glad to hear you’re coming to my hometown-Nantong. It is a good place to visit.

I hope my answer is helpful to you. See you in Nantong!

Yours,

Thomas